'This well-organized and clearly written edited volume is a pleasure to read. If you could have but one book on your shelf regarding steppe grassland environments and use, this should be it. The comparative approach is most effective, offering excellent detail and comprehensive information throughout. Contributors address seminal issues from a wealth of perspectives and continuously challenge readers at all levels of familiarity to consider the interplay between environments, economics, and policy implementation.'--Gregory Veeck, Western Michigan University, US'This book reports a multi-disciplinary examination of the fundamental dilemma of reconciling the long-term improvement of herder livelihoods with ensuring the future sustainability of the national environmental resource that grasslands represent. Building on more than three decades of research on the grasslands of China, the authors address the complex issues currently involved from many perspectives including both a sophisticated questioning of herders and a detailed modelling of their present situation. Realistic possible solutions to the dilemma are put forward and evaluated.'--John W. Longworth, President, International Association of Agricultural Economists (1989-1991)